Protect Children, Not Guns - an Initiative

On April 20, 1999, Americans witnessed a once unthinkable and no unforgettable tragedy at Columbine high School. We watched in horror as frightened children fled with their hands up, frantic parents tried to reunite with their children, and traumatized survivors told reporters about the violence they witnessed. It was the first time many of us saw these terrifying scenes. But it was far from the last.

Since Columbine, an entire generation of children has suffered these sudden and terrifying acts of violence with ever-increasing frequency. Virginia Tech in 2007. Sandy Hook in 2012. Portland in 2018. An most recently, two mass shootings in El Paso, TX and Dayton, OH within a span of 24 hours. Twenty years later, mass shootings have become the new normal.

Yet mass shootings reflect just a fraction of the gun violence saturating our children's lives. Everyday gun violence romps through their playgrounds, terrorizes them in their classrooms and child care centers, follows them down the street, waits at the bus stop, and shoots them through their bedroom windows. It nags at their minds and spirits, snuffing out the promise and joy of childhood. It gives them recurring nightmares and endless worries. It makes them plan their own funerals because they don't think they'll live to adulthood. And it make them wonder if adults will ever make it stop and keep them safe.

The Children's Defense Fund has documented the devastating toll of gun violence on children for more than two decades. According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3,410 children and teens were killed with guns in 2017 - the greatest umber since 1998. Another 18,201 children and teens were injured by gunfire that year. And countless more children suffered the loss of a family member of a friend to gun violence; hid in the bathtub for cover from a drive-by shooting; worried about walking to and from school; or didn't play outside for fear of being struck by a random bullet.

This escalating violence against children and teens is no coincidence. It is a direct result of our nation's continued failure to value children's lives more than guns, gun manufacturers and the NRA. For far too long, Congress has turned a blind eye and wallowed in inaction while our gun violence epidemic has worsened. In the two decades since Columbine, Congress has placed no new restrictions on guns even as the federal ban on assault rifles expired, public support for gun violence prevention swelled and child gun deaths rose. As each day, week, month and year goes by, more children die and too little changes.

When will we come to our senses? When will we end the relentless violence and carnage that has come to characterize childhood in America? How many more senseless and preventable deaths will it take before our policymakers take meaningful action to keep children safe where they live and learn.

Protect Children, Not Guns 2019 analyzes the latest fatal and nonfatal gun injury data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for children and teens ages 0-19. The data reveal a terrible truth: America's gun violence epidemic is killing more children, more often.

- 3,410 children and teens were killed with guns in 2017 - the greatest number of child and teen gun deaths since 1998.

- 21,611 children and teens were killed or injured with a gun in 2017 - one every 24 minutes.

- Gun violence was the second leading causes of death among children and teens ages 1-19 and the leading cause among black children and teens.

- Gun violence killed more children and teens than cancer, pneumonia, influenza, asthma, HIV/AIDS and opioids combined.

- Homicide is the leading cause of gun death among children and teens and assault the leading cause of gun injury.

- Black, Hispanic, American Indian, and Alaska Native children and teens are disproportionately likely to be killed or injured with guns.

- Guns killed twice as many preschoolers as law enforcement officers in the life of duty. Ninety-three children under 5 were killed with guns in 2017, compared with 42 law enforcement officers in the line of duty,

- Children were not safe in any state. Every state lost children and teens to gun violence between 2008 and 2017, ranging from 18 in Hawaii to 2,977 in California. The deadliest states were Alaska and Louisiana, with about 8 gun deaths per 100,000 children and teens annually - more than twice the national rate.

- U.S. children and teens are 15 times more likely to die from gunfire than their peers in 31 other high-income countries combined.

Since 1963, 4 times more children and teens have been killed with guns on American soil than U.S. soldiers killed in action in wars abroad.

- Between 1963 and 2017, an estimated 186,239 children and teens were killed with guns on American soil, while 45,189 U.S. soldiers were killed in action in the Vietnam, Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, and Iraq wars combined.

- The number of children and teens who have lost their lives to gun violence since 1963 would fill 9,312 classrooms of 20 students each.

- The child and teen gun death rate in 2017 was 72 percent higher than in 1963 when data were first collected from all states.